Systems and methods for sorting objects to large numbers of orders

ABSTRACT

An order fulfillment system is disclosed in which objects to be collected into orders are provided in output totes. The system includes a primary sortation system that includes a loop conveyance system that moves objects around a closed loop that includes a plurality of primary sortation exits, each of which leads to a location inside the closed loop, and a secondary sortation system that includes a plurality of secondary conveyances, each of which receives an object at one of the plurality of primary sortation exits, and conveys the object to one of a plurality of totes, the plurality of totes being within the closed loop of the primary sortation system.

PRIORITY

The present application is a continuation application of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 16/986,984, filed Aug. 6, 2020, which claimspriority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62/884,353filed Aug. 8, 2019, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

The invention generally relates to order fulfillment centers andsystems, and relates in particular to e-commerce order fulfillmentsystems and methods.

An order fulfillment center holds inventory and ships from inventorypackages that fulfill customers' orders. Inventory may be held onshelves and picked manually, or may be held in automated storage andretrieval systems (AS/RS).

The picking of orders may be achieved in a variety of ways, for example,employing human personnel. Personnel may generally employ batch picking(pick less, sort now) or wave picking (pick more, sort later). Inparticular, in places where personnel are manually picking units fromshelves, it is common to optimize the efficiency of the walking andpicking process, so that as many goods as possible are picked whilewalking up and down aisles of shelves. In batch picking, personnel maypush a cart up and down the aisles that will hold bins for multipleindividual orders. When the personnel arrives at the location of a unitneeding to be picked, he or she will pick that unit and place it intothe tote or bin corresponding to the order. In this case, the worker issorting the unit into the correct order. At the end of the tour throughthe shelves, all of the orders on the cart will be complete—no unitswill remain to be picked for those orders—and all units will be sortedinto orders, and ready to be shipped. FIG. 1 , for example, shows at 10a route 12 that a human personnel may take walking through a warehousefilled with objects 14 on shelves 16. The person's efficiency isdetermined by the density of picks on the shelves. In wave picking,personnel pick any open units in his or her walk through the shelves, asopposed to batch picking where he or she only picks units that belong toorders in their cart.

Batch picking works when the number of outgoing orders is small. Inbatch picking however, personnel may be walking by units on the shelvesthat are needed for some other order that does not fit onto the worker'scart. There is no room on the cart for an additional tote into which toput the passed-by unit. It is typically impractical to push around acart holding more than a dozen or so orders. In wave picking the job ofsorting units into orders is shifted downstream—the units are sortedlater. Instead, personnel pick any outstanding units. The personnel whodoes the picking does not do any sorting into individual orders.Instead, the totes containing units from many different orders are sentby conveyor to a sorting and packing area, where the picked units aresorted into their respective orders and then packed for shipping.Typically a large number—sometimes thousands—of outstanding orders aretaken to be open at a time, and all the units for those open orders arepicked. The number of open orders is the wave size.

In batch picking, more time is spent walking for the same number ofpicks, compared with wave picking. Wave picking can be much moreefficient for a large number of units and orders. There is a tradeoffinvolving the wave size. The larger the wave size, then the higher thedensity of picks in a walk down an aisle. Only a limited number of unitshowever, may be sorted into a given number of orders in a giventimeframe and footprint. The more units or the more orders, generallythe greater the footprint and manpower to do the sorting. A key questionfor order fulfillment facility design is how to cost-effectively sortmany thousands of units per hour into many thousands of orders.

When the system employs the process of picking now and sorting later,the system may rely on unit sorters. A unit sorter is a complex materialhandling system that sorts units into one of many destinations. Across-belt sorter is an example of a unit sorter that consists of atrain of small sections of conveyor belts arranged in a loop, where eachsection of conveyor can convey units transversally to destinations.Units, for example, may be placed onto a single cross-belt, and thenwhen the section of conveyor arrives at the unit's destination, theconveyor belt (or train of short conveyor belts) drives the unit off ofthe belt and down a chute corresponding to the correct destination forthe unit. In this way, many thousands of units can be sorted into one ofmany hundreds of destinations per hour. Other examples of unit sortersinclude tilt-tray sorters and bomb-bay sorters. In tilt-tray sorters,units ride trays that tilt left or right relative to the direction ofmotion of the looping trays. In a bomb-bay sorter, the units are placedon doors that open when the unit arrives at the correct destination.

When looked at in terms of cost per destination, bomb-bay, cross-beltand tilt-tray sorters are typically very expensive to make. Eachadditional destination chute incurs significant cost. Typically there isan electrical actuator for every single destination. In a cross-beltsorter, the actuator manipulates a latching component that, whenextended, can induce left or right motion of the belt. Similarmechanisms are used for the tilt-tray and bomb-bay sorters. Thisrequires significant complexity, as each destination chute needs anactuator, a mechanism, a power supply and other wiring.

Unit sorters, however, are generally more economical to employ becausethey enable a more efficient wave picking process. Even so, the wavesize is often much larger than the number of destinations one can affordto buy in the unit sorter. A further challenge with unit sorters is thatsystems employing many unit sorters become expensive per destination,even though the more destinations you can sort to, the larger the wavesize can be, and then the more efficient picking can be. Furthersortation systems include automated movement to sortation destinations,such as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,861,844. Suchautomated sortation systems however, require complex movement ofindividual delivery vehicles in horizontal and vertical directions.

There remains a need therefore, for systems and methods that reduceoperating expenses, yet provide approaches that have system costs thatare affordable and provide a return on investment. Such systems andmethods should ideally i) create a solution that vastly increases thenumber of destinations that can be automatically sorted to, and that isscalable, ii) automatically handle the units end-to-end, andautomatically singulate and induct units into the system, iii)automatically discharge order totes from the system to eliminate manualchute servicing, iv) where possible, use existing, off-the-shelf unittransport technology and v) use footprint efficiently, and exploitvertical space.

SUMMARY

In accordance with an aspect, the invention provides an orderfulfillment system in which objects to be collected into orders areprovided in output totes. The system includes a primary sortation systemthat includes a loop conveyance system that moves objects around aclosed loop that includes a plurality of primary sortation exits, eachof which leads to a location inside the closed loop, and a secondarysortation system that includes a plurality of secondary conveyances,each of which receives an object at one of the plurality of primarysortation exits, and conveys the object to one of a plurality of totes,the plurality of totes being within the closed loop of the primarysortation system.

In accordance with another aspect, the invention provides an orderfulfillment system in which objects to be collected into orders areprovided in output totes. The system includes an input conveyancesystem, a primary sortation system, a secondary sortation system, and anoutput tote conveyance system. The input conveyance system moves objectstoward a loop conveyance system generally along a first input direction.The primary sortation system includes the loop conveyance system andthat moves objects around a closed loop that includes a plurality ofprimary sortation exits, each of which leads to a location inside theclosed loop. The secondary sortation system includes a plurality ofsecondary conveyances, each of which receives an object at one of theplurality of primary sortation exits and provides objects to one of aplurality of totes. The output tote conveyance system is for movingcompleted totes within the closed loop in a direction that is generallytransverse to the input direction.

In accordance with yet another aspect, the invention provides an orderfulfillment system in which objects to be collected into orders areprovided in output totes. The system includes an input conveyancesystem, a primary sortation system, a secondary sortation system, and anoutput tote conveyance system. The input conveyance system moves objectsfrom an input conveyance system. The primary sortation system includesthe loop conveyance system and that moves objects around a closed loopthat includes a plurality of primary sortation exits, each of whichleads to a location inside the closed loop. The secondary sortationsystem includes a plurality of secondary conveyances, each of whichreceives an object at one of the plurality of primary sortation exitsand provides objects to one of a plurality of totes, said plurality ofsecondary conveyances being provided on a plurality of verticallystacked layers. The output tote conveyance system is for movingcompleted totes within the closed loop to an output location.

In accordance with a further aspect, the invention provides a method ofproviding order fulfillment in which objects to be collected into ordersare provided in output totes. The method includes: moving objects towarda loop conveyance system generally along a first input direction, movingobjects around a closed loop that includes a plurality of primarysortation exits, each of which leads to a location inside the closedloop, receiving objects at a plurality of secondary conveyances, each ofwhich receives an object at one of the plurality of primary sortationexits and provides objects to one of a plurality of totes, and movingcompleted totes within the closed loop in a direction that is generallytransverse to the input direction.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following description may be further understood with reference tothe accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of an object pickingroute in accordance with the prior art;

FIG. 2 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of an order fulfillmentsystem in accordance with an aspect of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows an illustrative diagrammatic enlarged view of an infeedprocessing station of the system of FIG. 2 ;

FIG. 4 shows an illustrative diagrammatic further enlarged view from analternate angle of the infeed processing system of FIG. 3 ;

FIG. 5 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of the primary sortationsystem of the system of FIG. 2 ;

FIG. 6 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of the secondarysortation system of the system of FIG. 2 ;

FIG. 7 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of the output toteconveyance system of the system of FIG. 2 ;

FIG. 8 shows an illustrative diagrammatic enlarged view of the toteremoval portion of the output tote conveyance system of FIG. 7 from analternate angle;

FIG. 9 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of a tote kicker systemfor use in a system of FIG. 2 ;

FIG. 10 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of the tote kicker ofFIG. 9 moving a tote from the secondary sortation system to the outputtote conveyance system;

FIGS. 11A-11D shows illustrative diagrammatic side views of the totekicker of FIG. 9 (FIG. 11A) engaging the tote (FIG. 11B), moving thetote (FIG. 11C), and permitting the opened location to be filled by anew tote (FIG. 11D);

FIG. 12 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of the tote transportportion of the output conveyance system of the system of FIG. 2 ;

FIG. 13 shows an illustrative diagrammatic enlarged view of the totetransport portion of FIG. 12 showing tote scanners;

FIG. 14 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of a primary transportsystem for use in an order fulfillment system in accordance with anotheraspect of the invention;

FIGS. 15A and 15B show illustrative diagrammatic views of amulti-directional diverter for use in an order fulfillment system inaccordance with an aspect of the invention with diverter belts notengaged (FIG. 15A) and engaged (FIG. 15B);

FIG. 16 shows an illustrative diagrammatic underside view of the beltdiverter portion of the multi-directional diverter of FIGS. 15A and 15B;

FIG. 17 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of a series ofsequencing conveyors in the primary sortation system of FIG. 14 ;

FIG. 18 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of a secondary sortationsystem for use in an order fulfillment system in accordance with anotheraspect of the invention; and

FIG. 19 shows an illustrative diagrammatic view of a processing systemin accordance with a further aspect of the invention that includes aplurality of order fulfillment systems.

The drawings are shown for illustrative purposes only.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In accordance with an aspect of the invention, systems are provided fororder fulfillment in which objects to be collected into orders areprovided in output totes. The system includes an input conveyancesystem, a primary sortation system, a secondary sortation system, and anoutput tote conveyance system. The input conveyance system moves objectstoward a loop conveyance system generally along a first input direction.The primary sortation system includes the loop conveyance system andthat moves objects around a closed loop that includes a plurality ofprimary sortation exits, each of which leads to a location inside theclosed loop. The secondary sortation system includes a plurality ofsecondary conveyances, each of which receives an object at one of theplurality of primary sortation exits and provides objects to one of aplurality of totes. The output tote conveyance system is for movingcompleted totes within the closed loop in a direction that is generallytransverse to the input direction.

Applicants have discovered that a sorting process may be provided thatincludes a primary sort and a secondary sort, using for example a hybridmodel. Such a hybrid model may involve cascading automated and manualsorting, and thereby split sorting into a primary and secondary sort. Inthe primary sort, use a unit sorter to automatically sort to 1 of N,where N is typically in the hundreds. In the secondary sort, use peopleto manually sort to 1 of M destinations, where M is typically 10 orless, but can be more. This cascaded sort enables sorting into 1 of M×Ndestinations. It is enabled via a hybrid automated-manual approach thatleverages a fast, automated solution with a more cost-effective perdestination manual process, which boosts the total number ofdestinations. In the manual secondary sort, a worker receives a totefilled with up to M orders, where M is typically between 6 to 10. Thepersonnel sorts the items into orders, and in combined sort and packingstations, packs the orders to be shipped. The cascaded sort is a resultof a balance between the capital expenses of the automated materialhandling system versus the operating expenses of manual labor.

Building on this discovery, the invention provides a fully automatedsortation system for sorting many units into many orders in accordancewith an aspect of the present invention. The system is a completelyautomated solution, but automates the sorting with fewer expensivecomponents than a unit-sorter solution. The system employs a cascadeapproach similar to the hybrid automated/manual approach, and includesscalable building components, including a shuttle module, a shuttle wallbuilt of layered shuttle modules, and an automated order sortationsystem, in conjunction with a cross-belt sorter and robotic inductionstations.

FIG. 2 for example, shows a system 20 that includes a pair of objectin-feed conveyors 22, 32, along which in-feed processing stations 24,26, 28, 30 and 34, 36, 38, 40 are provided. The object in-feed conveyors22, 32, provide input bins or totes 50 in which objects are provided tothe system 20. The object in-feed conveyors and in-feed processingstations are provided on in-feed floors 46, 48 below which empty bins ortotes are provided to the system and completed bins or totes are removedfrom the system as discussed in further detail herein. Each in-feedprocessing station 24, 26, 28, 30, 34, 36, 38, 40 moves objectsindividually onto a circulating primary sortation system 42 thatincludes conveyor 70 on which is attached a plurality of cross-beltdiverters 68 as further shown in FIG. 3 . The cross-belt diverters 68selectively direct objects to any of a plurality of downward directingconveyors 72, level directing conveyors 74 or upward directing conveyors76. Each of the conveyors 72, 74, 76 provides a received object to areciprocating diverter 90 that travels along a rail 78 to deliver anobject to one of a plurality of totes 92. When a tote is completed (fullor otherwise finished), the completed tote 94 is provided to tote outputconveyors as discussed further herein. All of the operations are underthe control of one or more processing systems 100.

FIGS. 3 and 4 show that each in-feed processing station (e.g., 34, 36)includes a bin or tote diverter 52 that may be used to divert an inputbin or tote 50 onto an in-feed processing station conveyor 54. Aperception unit 56 may be used to identify objects in the bin or tote50, and to direct a programmable motion device such as an articulatedarm 58 having an end effector 60 to grasp and acquire the object 44 fromthe input bin or tote 50. In certain aspects, all objects in an inputbin or tote 50 may be the same, and the identity may be determined byscanning a code or indicia on the bin or tote 50. The object 44 may thenbe placed onto an in-feed introduction conveyor 62 or may be placeddirectly onto a cross-belt diverter 68 of the circulating primarysortation system 42. Where the object is placed onto the in-feedintroduction conveyor 62, the object 44 will move toward, and eventuallyjoin, the circulating primary sortation system 42, optionally under themonitor of a perception unit 64 such as a camera or sensor, to confirmthe exact cross-belt diverter 68 onto which the object 44 is eventuallypositioned, and monitored during processing by one or more perceptionunits 66 along the circulating primary sortation conveyor 70. The systemtherefore knows which object is on each loaded cross-belt diverter 68,and where each object is at all times during processing.

Induction onto the cross-belt sorter is therefore automated by a robotthat is able to pick units out of totes filled with single SKUs or totesfilled with multiple SKUs. For totes filled with a single SKU(homogeneous totes), the system scans the identification plate on thetote and is able to determine from the barcode what SKU it is and fromthere what order and therefore shuttle module it is destined for. Fortotes filled with multiple SKUs (heterogeneous totes), the systemdetermines the identity of any one SKU by scanning the unit prior toplacement on the cross-belt merge conveyor. This step thereforeidentifies the SKU and determines the shuttle module with thecorresponding order.

As the cross-belt diverters 68 on the primary sortation conveyor 70move, they travel past a plurality of conveyors that bring objects toany of a plurality of reciprocating secondary sortation systems. When across-belt diverter 68 is adjacent to a desired conveyor 72, 74, 76, thecross-belt diverter 68 is actuated to move the object thereon is in adirection orthogonal to the movement of the primary sortation conveyor70. In particular, and with reference to FIG. 5 , downward directingconveyors 72 bring objects to a lower level of reciprocating secondarysortation systems, level directing conveyors 74 bring objects to acentral level of reciprocating secondary sortation systems, and upwarddirecting conveyors 76 bring objects to an upper level of reciprocatingsecondary sortation systems. The downward directing conveyors 72 lead toa lower cache diverter 80, the level directing conveyors 74 lead to amiddle cache diverter 82, and the upward directing conveyors lead to anupper cache diverter 84.

As discussed in further detail below, each lower cache diverter 80,middle cache diverter 82 and upper cache diverter 84 may be activated tomove an object thereon onto a reciprocating conveyor 90 when thereciprocating conveyor 90 is adjacent the cache diverter, and eachreciprocating conveyor 90 may be moved to be adjacent a destination binor tote 92, and then actuated to move an object 44 thereon into theadjacent bin or tote 92. With reference again to FIG. 2 and with furtherreference to FIG. 6 , empty bins or totes 51 are introduced into thesystem from under the in-feed floor 46 at empty tote feed stations 86,88. As shown in FIG. 6 (with the in-feed floor 46 and the conveyors 72,74, 76 and diverters 80, 82, 84 removed for clarity), empty bins ortotes 51 are provided to each of the lower middle and upper levels ofthe secondary sortation systems along lower empty tote in-feed conveyors96, middle empty tote in-feed conveyors 97 and upper empty tote in-feedconveyors 98. As discussed in more detail below, completed bins or totesare removed from the tote queue conveyor 134 onto an adjacent toteoutput conveyor by, for example, a tote kicker (as discussed in moredetail below), which action may be facilitated by rollers 132. FIG. 7shows the empty tote feed stations 86, 88 with the in-feed floor 46 andin-feed conveyor 22 and in-feed processing stations 24, 26, 28, 30removed for clarity, where the lower empty tote in-feed conveyors 96,middle empty tote in-feed conveyors 97 and upper empty tote-infeedconveyors 98 are fed by a common empty tote source conveyor 136 viamulti-directional conveyors 137.

Once introduced into the secondary sortation systems 146, the positionand location of each bin or tote 90 is known and monitored, so thatobjects may be purposefully deposited into desired bins or totes 90 inaccordance with an order fulfillment manifest. Note also that supportposts 102 are provided to support both the middle and upper levels, andto ensure that no bin or tote 90 is attempted to be removed into asupport post 102, retractable barriers 104 are provided to maintain arequired distance between bins or totes 90 to accommodate the supportposts 102.

The shuttle module is the basic building block of the system and sortsunits into totes corresponding to individual orders. The system deliversobjects to totes, and manages the order totes—filling the system withempty totes, and discharging totes with fully filled orders. The shuttlemodule includes a linear shuttle, two tote queues, a tote kicker, andinbound and outbound conveyors. The linear shuttle travels parallel tothe length of the module. The shuttle is driven, for example, by alinear slide; by a motor-driven wheel on rails; or other linear motiondevice. The shuttle carries a unit conveyor such as a tilt-tray orcross-belt device. The unit conveyor receives units, and in combinationwith the linear action of the shuttle, is able to deliver those units tototes in a left or right tote queue. The two tote queues are on eitherside of the shuttle. The tote queues are a line of a variable number oftotes resting on motor driven conveyor. The tote queue consists ofmultiple zones of accumulated totes.

The totes 92 may be either gravity biased or driven to push toward acentral region of the circulating primary sortation system (allowing forthe support posts as noted above). With reference to FIG. 8 , empty binsor totes 51 are introduced into the queues (again, noting the locationof each individual bin or tote), and the reciprocating conveyors 90 areactuatable to move between the queues and to deliver an object thereoninto a desired bin or tote 92. FIG. 9 shows the reciprocating conveyor90 on the rail 78. The reciprocating conveyor 90 may be controlled bypneumatics or electric motors, and may, for example, ride along the rail78 by rollers 106. As shown at 108, the reciprocating conveyor 90 maytravel along the rail 78, and a conveyor belt 110 on the reciprocatingconveyor may be actuatable to drive in directions orthogonal to thedirection 108 as shown at 112.

As also shown in FIG. 9 , the reciprocating conveyor 90 also includes anattached tote kicker assembly 114 including a kicker arm 116 with aroller 118 at an end thereof, as well as a motor actuator 120 forrotating the kicker arm 116 in either direction away from the rail 78.With reference again to FIG. 8 and with further reference to FIG. 10 ,the tote kicker assemblies 114 are used to move a selected bin or tote92 that is full or otherwise complete, out of the queue and onto anadjacent tote output conveyor 122. Such selected bins or totes are thenmoved along the tote output conveyor 122 (away from the empty tote feedstations) toward a completed tote removal station 124, which includes anupper level removal conveyor 126, a middle level removal conveyor 128and a lower level removal conveyor 130.

As noted above, breaks in between runs of accumulated totes, held byretractable barriers 104, allow space for structural elements to hold upthe shuttle. Thus when totes are kicked, they do not hit structuralsupports. The shuttle also carries a tote kicker, which is able to pushtotes out of the tote queue onto an outbound conveyor. The tote kickeris on a single arm, or double-action arm that extends a wheel out topush the tote to the outbound conveyor. The outbound conveyor conveysfilled order totes away from the module. It receives totes from the totequeue by the action of the tote kicker. The outbound conveyor feeds anoutbound trunk conveyor line. The inbound conveyor supplies empty ordertotes to the module, by diverting empty totes into the tote queue.

In particular, and with reference to FIGS. 11A-11D, the tote kickerbegins (FIG. 11A) by moving the reciprocating conveyor 90 to be adjacenta tote 92 to be removed. The kicker arm 116 then rotates, and when theroller 118 contacts the tote 92, the tote 92 begins to move (FIG. 11B)toward the output conveyor 122. As the kicker arm 116 continues torotate, the roller 118 pushes the tote 92 further (FIG. 11C) until thetote 92 is positioned on the output conveyor 122, whereupon the kickerarm 116 returns to a neutral position (FIG. 11D). The system may alsoinclude a removal roller 134 (either active or passive) that facilitatesthe transfer of a tote 92 from a tote queue conveyor 134 to the outputconveyor 122.

The tote kicker may be designed to accommodate the conveyor, with akicker mechanism underneath the supporting I-beam that is attached by aC-shaped bracket. The I-beam itself is held by a (reversed) C-shapedbracket. This design (1) physically supports the shuttle; (2) allows theshuttle to freely travel the entire length of the shuttle module withoutinterference; and (3) because the I-beam supporting C-brackets arespread out, it allows the kicker to kick totes on either side of theshuttle. The length of the shuttle module may be configured as needed,and the number of totes in the queue may vary between designs.

Shuttle modules are stacked together to make up a shuttle wall using thefollowing design principles. Vertical space is exploited to reduce thefootprint. The system increases the number of destinations per squarefoot by stacking shuttle modules and using vertical space. Each shuttlemodule is designed so that structural supports can hold up a layer aboveit. Multiple layers can be made, 2 to 4 layers, where the height limitedby the ability to feed the shuttles.

The number of conveyors is reduced by having two side-by-side shuttlemodules share a single outbound conveyor. For example, five (5)side-by-side shuttle modules would have a total of six (6) outboundconveyors. The levels of the shuttle modules levels are staggered sothat shuttle positions are spread out evenly over the length of the wall(as opposed to all lying in the same vertical column). Then chutes offof a unit sorter, such as a cross-belt sorter, can feed each shuttlemodule via sloped belted conveyors, shown next page.

The inbound empty order tote conveyor and outbound filled order totetrunk conveyor of side-by-side shuttle modules are joined. Commonconveyors of empty totes feed all shuttle modules, and outbound trunkconveyors carry discharged and filled order totes to packing stations.

The automated order sortation system uses the shuttle wall as thesecondary sort in a cascaded sort. A cross-belt sorter does a primarysort of the units, where each chute of the cross-belt sorter leads toone shuttle module. The cross-belt sorter delivers a unit to the shuttlemodule holding the unit's corresponding order tote. The chute of thecross-belt sorter is a belted conveyor that conveys the sorted unit tothe shuttle module's shuttle. Because the shuttle modules are staggered,there is an efficient use of the length of the cross-belt sorter, anduse of vertical space for the wall. If the levels of the shuttle wallare A for bottom, B for middle, and C for top; and if destinations arenumbered starting from 1; then, assignments from destinations to levelsexploit the staggering, so that 1=>A, 2=>B, 3=>C, 4=>A, 5=>B, 6=>C, 7=>Aetc.

With reference to FIG. 12 , the completed tote removal systems 124 mayinclude upper, middle and lower level removal conveyors 126, 128, 130 asdiscussed above that lead to individual output conveyors 138, 140, 142.Such individual output conveyors 138, 140, 142 may be directed todesired destination areas. In accordance with further aspects, and withreference to FIG. 13 , the individual output conveyors 138, 140, 142 maylead to a common order fulfillment conveyor 150, and may further includeadditional final perception systems 152 to confirm the placement andcontents of the completed totes 94.

With reference to FIG. 14 (showing a view similar to that of FIG. 5 ), aprocessing system 220 in accordance with a further aspect of theinvention may include a circulating primary sortation system 242 thatincludes rollers 270, as well as bi-directional diverters 268 fordiverting objects onto one of a plurality of belted metering conveyors272, 274, 276. The belted metering conveyors may include belt sections262, 264, 266 (as further shown in FIG. 18 ) that may be independentlyactuated to permit objects to be buffered on the conveyors 272, 274,276, for example, to maintain singulation of objects while awaitingreturn of an associated reciprocating conveyor 290.

Many of the other elements of the system may be as disclosed above withreference to the system of FIGS. 2-13 . For example, the system 220 mayinclude a pair of object in-feed conveyors along which in-feedprocessing stations (e.g., 34) are provided. The object in-feedconveyors provide input bins or totes in which objects are provided tothe system. The object in-feed conveyors and in-feed processing stationsare provided on in-feed floors below which empty bins or totes areprovided to the system and completed bins or totes are removed from thesystem as discussed in further detail herein. Each in-feed processingstation (e.g., 34) moves objects individually onto the circulatingprimary sortation system 242. The bi-directional diverters 268selectively direct objects to any of the plurality of downward directingbelted metering conveyor 272, level directing belted metering conveyor274 or upward directing belted metering conveyor 276 as discussed abovewith reference to the system of FIG. 5 .

Each of the conveyors 272, 274, 276 provides a buffered received objectto a lower cache diverter 280, a level cache diverter 282 or an uppercache diverter 284, which feeds a reciprocating diverter 90 that travelsalong a rail to deliver an object to one of a plurality of totes 92.When a tote is completed (full or otherwise finished), the completedtote is provided to tote output conveyors as discussed above. All of theoperations are under the control of one or more processing systems 200.

As discussed above, each in-feed processing station (e.g., 34) includesa bin or tote diverter that may be used to divert an input bin or toteonto an in-feed processing station conveyor 54. One or more perceptionunits may be used to identify objects in the bin or tote, and to directa programmable motion device such as an articulated arm 58 having an endeffector 60 to grasp and acquire the object from the input bin or tote.Again, in certain aspects, all objects in an input bin or tote may bethe same, and the identity may be determined by scanning a code orindicia on the bin or tote. The object may then be placed onto anin-feed introduction conveyor or may be placed directly onto thecirculating primary sortation system 242. In accordance with variousaspects, the system maintains knowledge of the order of objects on theconveyor, and monitors each object as it travels along the conveyor 242using a plurality of sensors 66.

Again, induction is therefore automated by a robot that is able to pickunits out of totes filled with single SKUs or totes filled with multipleSKUs. For totes filled with a single SKU (homogeneous totes), the systemscans the identification plate on the tote and is able to determine fromthe barcode what SKU it is and from there what order and thereforeshuttle module it is destined for. For totes filled with multiple SKUs(heterogeneous totes), the system determines the identity of any one SKUby scanning the unit prior to placement on the cross-belt mergeconveyor. This step therefore identifies the SKU and determines theshuttle module with the corresponding order.

With reference to FIG. 15A, each bi-directional diverter 268 includesactive rollers 270 as well as bi-directional diverters 268 that includea cross direction assembly of belts 271. As shown in FIG. 15B, the crossdirection assembly of belts 271 may be raised with respect to therollers 270, and when raised will engage an object thereon, lifting theobject off of the rollers 270. The belts 271 may then be activated tomove the object in a direction that is orthogonal to the direction ofmovement of the rollers 270. With further reference to FIG. 16 , eachbelt 271 is driven by one or more pulley wheels 273, and each pulleywheel 273 is mounted to a cross direction assembly rail 277 via a forcetorque sensor 275. The force torque sensors 275 are able to collectivelymeasure the weight of an object on the belts by summing the detectedweights among the sensors 275. In this way, when an object is stopped atthe bi-directional diverter 268, the system may determine the weight ofthe object to thereby further confirm that weight matches orsufficiently matches the expected weight knowing the identity of theobject as also confirmed by the sensors 66.

Again, and with reference to FIG. 14 , downward directing conveyors 272bring objects to a lower level of reciprocating secondary sortationsystems, level directing conveyors 274 bring objects to a central levelof reciprocating secondary sortation systems, and upward directingconveyors 276 bring objects to an upper level of reciprocating secondarysortation systems. The downward directing conveyors 272 lead to a lowercache diverter 280, the level directing conveyors 274 lead to a middlecache diverter 282, and the upward directing conveyors lead to an uppercache diverter 284.

Similarly, each lower cache diverter 280, middle cache diverter 282 andupper cache diverter 284 may be activated (using the buffered movementdiscussed herein) to move an object thereon onto a reciprocatingconveyor 90 when the reciprocating conveyor 90 is adjacent the cachediverter. With reference to FIG. 17 , each of the belted meteringconveyors 272, 274, 276 includes multiple independent belt sections(e.g., 262, 264, 266), and as shown, each belt section may be providedon two pairs of pulley wheels 263 (at least two of which are powered),and each pulley wheel may be provided on a force torque sensor 265 thatis attached to a frame 267. The force torque sensors 265 are used todetermine weight, e.g., whether an object is currently on the respectiveconveyor, and this information is used by the system to know when toadvance an object from one conveyor to the next adjacent conveyor (onlywhen empty).

In this way, the belted metering conveyors may provide buffering ofobjects as each object will be held on a belt section 262, 264, 266until the next adjacent belt section (or cache diverter) is empty.Object 282 therefore on belt section 262 will not be moved to beltsection 264 until the object 284 on belt section 264 is empty (object284 has been moved to belt section 266). The cache diverters may includesimilar force torque sensing mountings, and may be engaged to move anobject at a time to a reciprocating conveyor 90. Each reciprocatingconveyor 90 may then be moved to be adjacent a destination bin or tote92, and then actuated to move an object 44 thereon into the adjacent binor tote 92.

As discussed above with regard to the systems of FIGS. 2-13 , empty binsor totes are introduced into the system from under the in-feed floor atempty tote feed stations, and empty bins or totes are provided to eachof the lower middle and upper levels of the secondary sortation systemsalong lower empty tote in-feed conveyors, middle empty tote in-feedconveyors and upper empty tote in-feed conveyors as discussed above.Again, once introduced into the secondary sortation systems 246, theposition and location of each bin or tote 90 is known and monitored, sothat objects may be purposefully deposited into desired bins or totes 90in accordance with an order fulfillment manifest.

Again, support posts are provided to support both the middle and upperlevels. In accordance with an aspect, and as shown in FIG. 18 , toensure that no bin or tote 90 is attempted to be removed into a supportpost the bins or totes 92 may be provided on a series of weight-sensingbelted conveyors 234 (similar to weight sensing belted conveyors 262,264, 266), and each belt section may match the opening between posts102. The bins would therefore advance away from the empty tote sourceconveyor 136 in sets of bins or totes (e.g., in sets of six bins ortotes) when the next adjacent belt section was determined (by weight) tobe empty. Because the belt sections match the spacing of the posts 102,a bin or tote would not be attempted to be removed into a post 102.

Again, the system delivers objects to totes, and manages the ordertotes—filling the system with empty totes, and discharging totes withfully filled orders. The shuttle module includes a linear shuttle, twotote queues, a tote kicker, and inbound and outbound conveyors. Thelinear shuttle travels parallel to the length of the module. The shuttleis driven as discussed above, and carries a unit conveyor such as atilt-tray or cross-belt device. The unit conveyor receives units, and incombination with the linear action of the shuttle, is able to deliverthose units to totes in a left or right tote queue. The two tote queuesare on either side of the shuttle, and provide a line of a variablenumber of totes resting on motor driven conveyor.

Similar to the system of FIG. 8 , empty bins or totes are introducedinto the queues (again, noting the location of each individual bin ortote), and the reciprocating conveyors 90 are actuatable to move betweenthe queues and to deliver an object thereon into a desired bin or tote92. The reciprocating conveyor 90 may be controlled as discussed aboveby pneumatics or electric motors to move in directions orthogonal to thedirection 108 as shown at 112.

Again, the reciprocating conveyor 90 also includes an attached totekicker assembly including a kicker arm 116 as discussed above withreference to FIG. 9 , that is used to move a selected bin or tote thatis full or otherwise complete, out of the queue and onto the adjacenttote output conveyor 122. Such selected bins or totes are then movedalong the tote output conveyor 122 (away from the empty tote feedstations) toward a completed tote removal station, which includes anupper level removal conveyor, a middle level removal conveyor and alower level removal conveyor.

Again, the completed tote removal systems may include upper, middle andlower level removal conveyors as discussed above that lead to individualoutput conveyors. Such individual output conveyors may be directed todesired destination areas, or may lead to a common order fulfillmentconveyor, and may further include additional final perception systems toconfirm the placement and contents of the completed totes.

The entire automated order sortation system with induction stations,cross-belt sorter, and two sort walls provides the automated sortationof large orders into a large number of totes. The discharged and filledorder totes leave the system on the outbound order tote trunk conveyors.These outbound conveyors are shown in the middle axis of the precedingfigure. They take the filled order totes to packing stations, whereorders are packed into boxes and sent to shipping.

With reference to FIG. 19 , in accordance with further aspects of thepresent invention, two or more systems 320 may be provided as discussedabove that access common in-feed conveyors 322, 332, each of whichincludes circulating primary sortation systems 342 as well as secondarysortation systems 346 that are generally within the circulating primarysortation systems 342 as discussed above that lead to completed toteremoval stations 324 as discussed above. In this manner, many processingsystems 320 may be provided along common infeed conveyors, providing,for example, that many different types of objects may be processed atthe same time, and further, optionally providing that certain processingstations be directed objects that are well suited (e.g., due to size orweight) for processing by certain processing stations.

Those skilled in the art will appreciate that numerous modifications andvariations may be made to the above disclosed embodiments withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

What is claimed is: 1.-56. (canceled)
 57. An object processing systemcomprising: a primary sortation system that receives a plurality ofobjects at a plurality of infeed stations and includes a loop conveyancesystem that moves the plurality of objects around a closed loop thatincludes a plurality of primary sortation exits at which any of theplurality of objects may be selectively discharged from the primarysortation system; a secondary sortation system inside the closed loop ofthe primary sortation system, the secondary sortation system including aplurality of vertically stacked shuttle modules, each shuttle moduleincluding a reciprocating conveyance for moving a received object of theplurality of objects via a selected primary sortation exit of theplurality of primary sortation exits from a first end of the respectiveshuttle module to any of a plurality of destination locations of therespective shuttle module; and a plurality of cache diverters each ofwhich is positioned at one end thereof at one of the plurality ofprimary sortation exits, and is positioned at an opposite second endthereof at the first end of one of each of the vertically stackedshuttle modules, each of the plurality of cache diverters providing thatany object thereon will arrive at the first end of the respectiveshuttle module when the reciprocating conveyance of the respectiveshuttle module is also at the first end of the respective shuttlemodule.
 58. The object processing system as claimed in claim 57, whereinsaid loop conveyance system includes a cross-belt conveyor.
 59. Theobject processing system as claimed in claim 57, wherein said loopconveyance system includes a plurality of powered rollers.
 60. Theobject processing system as claimed in claim 57, wherein said loopconveyance system includes a plurality of weighing stations.
 61. Theobject processing system as claimed in claim 57, wherein the linearshuttle travels between two rows of said destination locations, each ofwhich includes a bin or tote.
 62. The object processing system asclaimed in claim 57, wherein the plurality of layered shuttle modules ofthe secondary sortation system includes three vertical levels of shuttlemodules.
 63. The object processing system as claimed in claim 57,wherein the order fulfillment system further includes an empty bin ortote conveyance system for providing empty bins or totes to any of theplurality of shuttle modules.
 64. The object processing system asclaimed in claim 63, wherein each shuttle module includes a bin or toteremoval system for removing a selected completed bin or tote from therespective shuttle module.
 65. The object processing system as claimedin claim 64, wherein the order fulfillment system further includes anoutput bin or tote conveyance system for providing the selectedcompleted bin or tote to an output area outside of the closed loop. 66.An object processing system comprising: a primary sortation system thatreceives a plurality of objects at a plurality of infeed stations andincludes a loop conveyance system that moves the plurality of objectsaround a closed loop that includes a plurality of primary sortationexits at which any of the plurality of objects may be selectivelydischarged from the primary sortation system; a secondary sortationsystem inside the closed loop of the primary sortation system, thesecondary sortation system including a plurality of vertically stackedshuttle modules, each shuttle module including a reciprocatingconveyance for moving a received object of the plurality of objects viaa selected primary sortation exit of the plurality of primary sortationexits from a first end of the respective shuttle module to any of aplurality of destination bins or totes of the respective shuttle module;and a plurality of output conveyors, each of which is positionedadjacent a shuttle module, and each of the reciprocating conveyancesincluding a bin or tote removal system for selectively moving a selectedbin or tote from the plurality of destination bins or totes from aselected shuttle module onto an adjacent output conveyor of theplurality of output conveyors.
 67. The object processing system asclaimed in claim 66, wherein said loop conveyance system includes across-belt conveyor.
 68. The object processing system as claimed inclaim 66, wherein said loop conveyance system includes a plurality ofpowered rollers.
 69. The object processing system as claimed in claim66, wherein said loop conveyance system includes a plurality of weighingstations.
 70. The object processing system as claimed in claim 66,wherein the linear shuttle travels between two rows of said destinationlocations, each of which includes a bin or tote.
 71. The objectprocessing system as claimed in claim 66, wherein the plurality oflayered shuttle modules of the secondary sortation system includes threevertical levels of shuttle modules.
 72. The object processing system asclaimed in claim 66, wherein the order fulfillment system furtherincludes an empty bin or tote conveyance system for providing empty binsor totes to any of the plurality of shuttle modules.
 73. The objectprocessing system as claimed in claim 66, wherein the order fulfillmentsystem further includes an output bin or tote conveyance system forproviding the selected completed bin or tote to an output area outsideof the closed loop.
 74. The object processing system as claimed in claim66, wherein the object processing system further includes a plurality ofcache diverters each of which is positioned at one end thereof at one ofthe plurality of primary sortation exits, and is positioned at anopposite second end thereof at the first end of one of each of thevertically stacked shuttle modules, each of the plurality of cachediverters providing that any object thereon will arrive at the first endof the respective shuttle module when the reciprocating conveyance ofthe respective shuttle module is also at the first end of the respectiveshuttle module.
 75. A method of processing objects comprising: moving aplurality of objects toward a primary sortation system that includes aclosed loop conveyance system for moving the plurality of objectsgenerally along a first input direction; diverting the plurality ofobjects at a plurality of primary sortation exits of the primarysortation system to plurality of cache diverters; moving the pluralityof objects from the cache diverters to a plurality of reciprocatingconveyance modules of a plurality of shuttle modules in a secondarysortation system inside the closed loop, each of cache divertersproviding that any object thereon will arrive at a first end of therespective shuttle module when the reciprocating conveyance module ofthe respective shuttle module is also at the first end of the respectiveshuttle module; moving the plurality of objects along the plurality ofreciprocating conveyance modules to a plurality of destination bins ortotes and ejecting the plurality of objects into a plurality ofdesignated destination bins or totes of the plurality of shuttlemodules; and ejecting the plurality of designated destination bins ortotes of the plurality of shuttle modules to a plurality outputconveyors; and providing the ejected designated destination bins ortotes to at least one output location outside of the closed loopconveyance system.
 76. The method as claimed in claim 75, wherein saidloop conveyance system includes a cross-belt conveyor.
 77. The method asclaimed in claim 75, wherein said loop conveyance system includes aplurality of powered rollers.
 78. The method as claimed in claim 75,wherein said loop conveyance system includes a plurality of weighingstations.
 79. The method as claimed in claim 75, wherein the linearshuttle travels between two rows of said plurality of designateddestination bins or totes.
 80. The method as claimed in claim 75,wherein each of the plurality of primary sortation exits divert objectsonto one of a plurality of belted conveyors that leads to one of theshuttle modules of the secondary sortation system, wherein the pluralityof belted conveyors includes independently controllable sections. 81.The method as claimed in claim 80, wherein the independentlycontrollable sections includes weighing sensors.
 82. The method asclaimed in claim 81, wherein the method further includes waiting untilan adjacent belted conveyor is empty prior to moving an object onto theadjacent belted conveyor.
 83. The method as claimed in claim 75, whereinthe plurality of shuttle modules are provided as three vertical levelsof shuttle modules.